[Advaita-l] Remembering Advaitavidyācārya, Śrīmad Appayya Dīkṣitendra on the Day of Vaikuṇṭha Ekādaśī today (10-01-2025)

[V Subrahmanian]

An FB post by Sri Gokulakrishna Iyer of Srirangam

Sri N Chandrashekhara Aiyar, Retired Judge, Madras High Court, once wrote
about Dīkṣitendra “Though He was an exponent of His own school of thought
and has written several works refuting other philosophies as unsound or
untenable He was at heart a devoted worshipper as much of Vishnu as of
Siva. He was not a sectarian bigot by conviction but when controversy was
forced upon Him by others bent upon polemics in religion or philosophy,
they found in Him a foeman more than worthy of their steel. He abhorred
religious controversy but did not flinch from battle when narrow
sectarianism reared its head”.

That was the attitude of Śrīmad Appayya Dīkṣitendra and that is why he
magnanimously wrote Sanskrit commentaries on the works of Swāmi Vedānta
Deśikar of the Śrī Vaiṣṇava Sampradāya like Yādavābhyudaya Mahākāvyam,
Śrīraṅganātha-pādukā-sahasra-stotram, and Haṁsa-sandeśa-kāvyam. Though he
was an Advaitin deeply devoted to Parameśvara, he wrote works like
Varadarāja-stava and his own Sanskrit commentary on it named
Varadarāja-stava-vivaraṇam which bear testimony to the fact that he was
devoted to Lord Viṣṇu as well. Those who study the works of Dīkṣitendra can
understand that he had no iota of hatred for Lord Viṣṇu or for His
devotees, for he himself was a devotee of Lord Viṣṇu.

500 years ago during his lifetime when he had made a sojourn to the Holy
Kṣetram of Śrīraṅgam, some religious bigots refused to let him inside the
temple to see Lord Raṅganāthar. What was the fault on the side of
Dīkṣitendra that led to this kind of a response from them? A mere defence
of Parameśvara and Śiva-bhakti is sufficient for them to falsely portray
him as a hater of Viṣṇu and the Vaiṣṇavas. Such people consider it
sacrilege to establish Śiva-pāramyam (Supremacy of Śiva) through
Śruti-pramāṇam, Smṛti-pramāṇam, and Itihāsa-purāṇa-pramāṇam. Although
Dīkṣitendra laboured hard to establish this without spreading hatred for
Lord Viṣṇu or His devotees, they still continue to hate him viscerally for
the mere act of establishing Śiva-pāramyam through Śruti-pramāṇam,
Smṛti-pramāṇam, and Itihāsa-purāṇa-pramāṇam.

Śrī KV Subrahmanya Sastrigal says in his Dīkṣitendra Vijayam that when some
brāhmaṇas refused to let him see Raṅganāthar, Dīkṣitendra stood on the
Candra-puṣkariṇī Tīrtham for the Sāyaṁsandhyā and meditated on the form of
the Lord. The next morning when the arcakas opened the Lord’s Sannidhi,
they saw the mūrti changed into that of Parameśvara. When they invited him
to have darśanam of the Lord, he made it appear once again as the mūrti of
Raṅganāthar through the power of his dhyāna. On seeing the mūrti of
Raṅganāthar, he uttered the following Śloka—

इदं च रङ्गं त्यजतामिहाऽङ्गं न विद्यतेऽङ्गं यदि वाऽस्तु चाऽङ्गम् ।
पाणौ रथाङ्गं शयने भुजङ्गं याने विहङ्गं चरणे च गाङ्गम् ॥

Translation:
This (Holy Kṣetram of Śrīraṅgam) is a stage unto which the physical body
could be given up. (As a result of it) there could be no (future) physical
body. (As a result of it), if there is a physical body it would be one that
has rathāṅga (disc known as Sudarśana) in its palm, the serpent (Adiśeṣa)
as its bedstead, vihāṅga (the bird named Garuḍa), and the waters of Mother
Gaṅgā in its foot.
(Translated by Dr. M Gokulakrishna Aiyar on 10-01-2025)

This indicates that death in Śrīraṅgam could give Sāyujya-mukti or oneness
with the mūrti of Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa to a devotee.

This is just a small example to show the Hari-bhakti of Śrīmad Appayya
Dīkṣitendra.